Archive for the ‘Things to do in Tucson’ Category

There are two Street Fairs per year, one in Spring and one in the Winter. The next Street Fair is April 1, 2 and 3, 2016. Hours are 10 am to 6pm (dusk) each day. The Street Fair takes place between Ninth Street and University Blvd. along Fourth Avenue. Click here for a map.Free to the public, the Fourth Avenue Street Fair brings together 400+ arts and crafts booths, 35+ food vendors, 2 Fantastic Stages, street musicians, food, jugglers, street performers, face painting, sidewalk entertainment, the ever so popular Free Kids hands-on-art Pavilion and tons of other fun activities.

This year, we are making it better than ever before with new ways to experience the Street Fair. Get your grub on with U.S. Fries at the U.S. Fries Community stage for their Poutine Pig Out Contest. You can also support your community by donating nonperishable food items to benefit the Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona. Bring your food to VIP Taxi who will have a cab parked at 7th St. and 4th Avenue for “Stuff the Cab” every day of the fair. Get around in inexpensive comfort, with our new and exciting mode of transportation! Wildcarts is the new, free “Official People Mover of 4th.” Try them out at Street Fair and hail one down for any of 4th’s future events.

The annual Tucson Festival of Books will be held Saturday and Sunday from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on the campus of the University of Arizona. The festival features more than 350 authors and panelists, 250 exhibitors, and opportunities to meet famous authors, poets, writers and journalists. There will be book signings, panel discussions, live entertainment, food vendors, children’s activities, Science City, and dozens of free activities for all ages. Admission is free and both Sun Link and Sun Tran provide stops within a short walk of the festival. Sun Link will be kicking off the Festival of Books with an onboard reading by award winning children’s author, Conrad Storad, on Saturday, March 12 at 10 a.m. Storad will begin his reading at the Avenida del Convento stop (across from Mercado San Agustin) and will exit at the University of Arizona to participate in the Festival of Books at the Children’s Storyteller

Just one of the Art Gallery’s to visit during your stay at Desert Dove in Tucson AZ

DeGrazia Gallery in the Sun
6300 N Swan
Tucson, AZ 85718
Phone: (520) 299-9191
Toll Free: (800) 545-2185
(1909-1982)
The son of Italian immigrants, Ettore DeGrazia was born June 14, 1909, in the Morenci mining camp of Territorial Arizona. His early childhood experiences in the ethnically diverse community evolved into a lifelong appreciation of native cultures in the Sonoran Desert and a passion to create art depicting their lives and lore.
After the Phelps Dodge mine closed in 1920, DeGrazia was introduced to his parent’s hometown when they moved their seven children to the Calabria region of Italy. The family returned to Morenci when the mine reopened five years later. Enrolling again in the first grade to relearn English, DeGrazia–nicknamed Ted by a schoolteacher–graduated from Morenci High School when he was 23 years old. By then he was an accomplished trumpeter who performed with family and friends.
After working briefly in the mine, DeGrazia hitched a ride to Tucson with his trumpet and $15 in his pocket. He enrolled at the University of Arizona in 1933, where he supported himself planting trees on campus by day and leading his big band at night. During one performance he met Alexandra, the daughter of Fox Theater owner Nicholas Diamos. Ted and Alexandra wed in 1936 and moved to Bisbee so DeGrazia could manage the Lyric Theater there, also owned by the Diamos family. The couple had three children during this time but divorced in 1946.
DeGrazia and Diego Rivera
DeGrazia and Diego Rivera
DeGrazia continued creating his early paintings in Bisbee and by 1941, Raymond Carlson, editor of Arizona Highways, started publishing features about the artist. On a rare vacation to Mexico City in 1942, DeGrazia and Alexandra left an evening ballet performance and headed to the Palacio Municipal where muralist Diego Rivera was working. This encounter led to an internship with Rivera and Jose Clemente Orozco. The two Mexican masters then sponsored a solo exhibition of DeGrazia’s paintings at the prestigious Palacio de Bellas Artes.
“Los Niños”
“Los Niños”
After returning to Tucson, DeGrazia found that no gallery was interested in exhibiting his artwork, so he bought an acre of land with $25 down at Prince Road and Campbell Avenue to build his first adobe studio in 1944, and also received a BA in Education from the University of Arizona. The following year he received a BFA, plus a Master of Arts titled “Art and Its Relation to Music in Art Education”.
New York sculptor Marion Sheret met the artist when visiting his Campbell Avenue studio. As she recalled, his first words to her were “Where have you been?” They married in the jungles of Mexico in 1947 and bought the 10-acre foothills site in the early 1950s to build what was to become DeGrazia’s Gallery in the Sun.
DeGrazia’s paintings, ceramics and other artwork steadily attracted media attention including the NBC newsreel “Watch the World” and a profile in the 1953 National Geographic article “From Tucson to Tombstone.” His fame flourished when UNICEF chose his 1957 oil painting “Los Niños” for a 1960 holiday card that sold millions worldwide.
Protest at the Superstition Mountains
Protest at the Superstition Mountains
From 1960 to the mid-1970s DeGrazia became wildly successful and the gallery flourished with hundreds of thousands of yearly visitors. To protest inheritance taxes on works of art, DeGrazia hauled about 100 of his paintings on horseback into the Superstition Mountains near Phoenix and set them ablaze in 1976. This infamous event was reported in such publications as The Wall Street Journal and People magazine, becoming part of DeGrazia’s legend before his death in 1982. By this time, the artist had established the DeGrazia Foundation to ensure the permanent preservation of his art and architecture for future generations.

Hotel Congress would have continued its charming existence as just another place of lodging for road weary guests, were it not for the events of January 22, 1934. That fateful day changed forever the building and its unique place in Tucson history. Early in the morning, a fire started in the basement of the hotel and spread up the elevator to the third floor. This fire, and the subsequent chain of events, led to the capture of one of the country’s most notorious criminals – John Dillinger.

After a series of bank robberies, Dillinger and his gang came to Tucson to “lay low”, residing on the third floor under aliases. Using the switchboard, the front desk clerk notified hotel guests of the fire and guests were evacuated using aerial ladders. On the urgent request of the gang, and encouraged by a generous tip, two firemen retrieved the heavy luggage they left behind. It was later discovered that the bags contained a small arsenal and $23,816 in cash.

Later, these astute firemen recognized the gang in True Detective Magazine. A stakeout resulted in the capture of Dillinger at a house on North Second Avenue. In a space of five hours, without firing a single shot, the police of small town Tucson had done what the combined forces of several states and the FBI had failed to accomplish. When captured, Dillinger simply muttered, “Well, I’ll be damned”.

We still celebrate his capture each third weekend in January with Dillinger Days, which is a fun event featuring reenactments, food and music, tours and lectures.

Wyatt Earp This image available for photographic prints anddownloads HERE!

Wyatt Earp is the best known of all the frontier lawman of the American West. Soft-spoken with nerves of steel, he survived countless gunfights due to his extraordinary patience and resolute manner. But, Earp wasn’t just the famous lawman of Dodge City and Tombstone fame; he was also a buffalo hunter, a miner, card dealer, stagecoach driver, saloon owner, and much more throughout the years.

TUCSON RODEO PARADE 9 A.M.
Over 200 non-motorized floats are on display along the one and one-half mile parade route beginning at Park Ave. and Ajo Way, proceeding south on Park to Irvington Rd. Tickets for Grandstand seating at Irvington and South 6th Ave, $10 adults, $5 kids under 13. Call (520) 294-1280 for grandstand tickets.

A colorful parade presented annually as part of the Tucson Rodeo and Parade (La Fiesta de los Vaqueros) since 1925. Now known as the “largest non-motorized parade in the country,” it was selected as a Top 100 Event in North America for 2015 by the American Bus Association. Longtime Tucsonan and former University of Arizona baseball coach Jerry Kindall has been chosen Grand Marshal of the 2015 Tucson Rodeo Parade.

Come to the annual event at Downtown Tucson’s historic Hotel Congress commemorating the 80th Anniversary of the capture of PUBLIC ENEMY No.1, John Dillinger! January 25, 2014

The Saturday event is FREE & FAMILY-FRIENDLY, as always, with re-enactments of Dillinger’s capture, food, live music, and a vintage car show. To heighten the historic experience, this year’s annual on-site fire re-enactment will be supplemented with the first-ever re-enactment in the original Pima County courtroom from Dillinger’s 1934 trial! Plus, to top it all off, we’ll be offering:

…and a full Downtown merchant presence featuring the Chicago Music Store, Hydra, and Buffalo Exchange!

A portion of the weekend’s proceeds benefits the Greater Tucson Fire Foundation, whose mission is to assess and respond to unmet needs of the greater Tucson firefighter community by facilitating access to health and wellness resources, while recognizing the firefighting heritage and culture.

Reenactment Shows produced by HotshotPerformer.com

Saturday Schedule of Events
9:00am – Arts and Crafts and Carnival Games Open

To prepare the enchiladas: Place the shredded chicken in a large bowl. Add half of the grated cheese, sour cream, and onion; season with salt and pepper. Mix well to combine.

Place the tortillas on your work surface. Spoon about 1 cup of the chicken mixture across the center of each tortilla. Roll them up to close and place, seam side down, in the prepared baking dish. Pour the salsa over the tortillas. Cover with aluminum foil and bake until heated through, about 40 minutes.

Remove the foil and sprinkle the enchiladas with the remaining 1 cup of grated cheese. Return the baking dish to the oven until the cheese is melted and edges of the tortillas are just beginning to get crisp, 5 to 8 minutes. Serve hot.